Jarrah Burl Platter

This piece came from a half-burl. Unfortunately whoever harvested or processed the burl cut it in half ACROSS THE MIDDLE!! (such butchery) so I had a burl that was 3” high at one end and 1/2” high at the other. I couldn’t core it to get a second useable piece from it. The platter is approx 11” in dia and about 3/16” thick, sanded to 2000 grit, 3 coats of tung oil and buffed with the Beall system (2 buffing compounds and carnuba wax).

Re using the Beall System: I charge the wheel sparingly with the white diamond compound and don’t have a problem with white dust in the fissures. I also blow any dust after each grit & buff with compressed air.

Great looking platter Ken, lovely finish. Your right about the butchering of burls, over here in Oz it is hard to get a complete burl cap of Jarrah, the harvester or processor is only interested in the mighty dollar.

Being as conservationists as I feel practical, I love to hear you saddened by an inability to stretch what is conceivably a finite resource. Call it a matter of money or just plain Yankee stubbornness to use as much as possible, I think we all should try to use every inch of wood we can in some practical way. Matching plates would have been a win.

Other than that, what a wonderful piece. Well done!

-- Lathes have a weird vortex around them; I lose all track of time when close enough.

That’s so pretty. I just purchased a piece of Jarrah today. It looks pretty dense through the middle, but from what I’ve seen, Jarrah’s pretty consistently voided throughout. Hopefully it doesn’t blow up in my face!